PSYC/SOCI 3340 01
DEATH AND DYING
Fall 2016
T/Th 9:30 - 10:50 a.m.
MARH 107
Dr. Laurie E. Smith Office Hours:
Office: Marshall Hall, 1st Floor Mon. and Wed.: 11 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.
Behavioral Sciences Suite, Office H Tues. and Thurs.: 8:30 – 9:30 a.m. and
Phone No.: 923-2090 11 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
e-mail: *or by appointment
text me at: 430-558-7671
PREREQUISITES
SOCI 1301 Introduction to Sociology or PSYC 1301 Introduction to Psychology.
COURSE DESCRIPTION
This course is a survey of death and dying in American society, focusing on societal attitudes related to the process of death and dying, social and psychological factors involved, the societal treatment of the dying and death, the process of dying, and loss and bereavement.
COURSE OBJECTIVES
The major objective of this course is to give the student an overview of death and dying in the United States and in other cultures. The course will include a survey of trends in death and dying in the United States. It will acquaint students with sociological and psychological aspects of death and dying, as well as exploring cultural beliefs and practices. An examination of attitudes and perceptions about death and dying also will be provided.
STUDENT LEARNING OUTCOMES
1) Identify characteristics and causes of death in the United States
2) Describe how developmental stages influence viewpoints of death and dying
3) Analyze controversial issues related to death and dying
4) Explain the stages of grieving
5) Examine one’s own perception of death and dying
6) Explain how faith impacts awareness of death and dying
TEXTBOOK
Corr, Charles A. and Donna M. Corr. 2013. Death and Dying, Life and Living (7th Edition). Wadsworth/Thomson Learning: Belmont, California. ISBN 978-1-111-84061-7.
ASSESSMENTS
1. Five examinations. The first four exams will be about 90% multiple-choice questions and 10% short answer questions. Each will count as 12% of your grade. The final exam, consisting of 100 multiple-choice questions, will be comprehensive. It will count as 22% of your grade. Students with a legitimate excuse (i.e., illness, death of a relative) will be allowed to take a make-up exam. Material on the examinations will come from the lectures and reading assignments. All exams will be closed book: no notes or books of any kind will be permitted. You will need to purchase 5 Scantrons for the exams. (SLO #1, 2, and 4)
2. Four assignments. For each section of the course, you will be provided with a list of assignments on Blackboard from which you will choose one. Each assignment is worth 1.25%, for a total of 5% of your final grade. Please post your completed assignment in Blackboard. (SLO #5 and 6)
3. Issues project. You will complete an analysis of one of the following controversial issues: abortion, euthanasia, or capital punishment. The paper will involve the examination of opposing viewpoints on the chosen issue. Details about the project will be provided in a separate document in Blackboard. The completed project will be worth 25% of your grade. (SLO #3 and 6)
Please Note: You will lose 10 points for every class period any assignment is late. No assignment will be accepted if it is more than one week overdue.
GRADING SCALE
The following grading scale will be used: 90 -100=A; 80 - 89=B; 70 - 79=C; 60 - 69=D. Any average below 60 is considered failing. If a student has a borderline average, class attendance and participation may affect his/her final grade.
CLASS ATTENDANCE
East Texas Baptist University is committed to the policy that regular and punctual attendance is essential to successful scholastic achievement. Attendance at all meetings of the course for which a student is registered is expected. To be eligible to earn credit in a course, the student must attend at least 75 percent of all class meetings. For additional information, please refer to page 30 of the 2016-2017 Undergraduate Catalog.
Students who exceed the absence limit in a course before the official withdrawal date will have the opportunity to withdraw from the class. Students in this situation who do not choose to withdraw on or before the official withdrawal date or who exceed the absence limit in a course after the official withdrawal date will receive a grade of XF.
COURSE WITHDRAWAL
A student may withdraw from a course or courses or from the University beginning with the first day through 75 percent of the semester without academic penalty. The final day to withdraw from this course is Friday, November 11.
To withdraw from a course or courses or from the University the student must secure a withdrawal form from the Registrar’s Office, his/her advisor, or from the ETBU website, and follow the directions on the form, securing all required signatures. Students must process their own withdrawals. For additional information, please refer to page 29 of the 2016-2017 Undergraduate Catalog.
SPECIAL POLICIES
Any student who misses an exam and fails to make up the exam will receive a "0" for the examination. Incompletes will not be given in this course unless a student demonstrates compelling reasons, such as a severe illness. \
Sometimes the curriculum in this course concerns controversial issues. These will be discussed in a Christian atmosphere. It is intended that each student explore these issues using critical thinking skills, formulating his or her own beliefs about these issues.
A note about cell phones: unless I specifically request that you use your cell phone for a class activity, it should be turned off and put away during class time. Put away means that it is not on the desk or in your lap or anywhere that I am able to see it or that you might be tempted to use it.
ACADEMIC INTEGRITY
Students enrolled at East Texas Baptist University are expected to conduct themselves in accordance with the highest standards of academic honesty and integrity avoiding all forms of cheating, illicit possession of examinations or examination materials, unwarranted access to instructor’s solutions’ manuals, plagiarism, forgery, collusion and submissions of the same assignment to multiple courses. Students are not allowed to recycle student work without permission of the faculty member teaching the course. Students must ask permission before submitting the work since it will likely be detected by plagiarism detection programs. If the student does not inform the instructor or ask permission before the assignment is due and submitted, the instructor may treat this as an academic integrity offense.
Penalties that may be applied by the faculty member to individual cases of academic dishonesty by a student include one or more of the following:
• Failure of the class in question
• Failure of particular assignments
• Requirement to redo the work in question
• Requirement to submit additional work
All incidents related to violations of academic integrity are required to be reported to the Vice President for Academic Affairs and multiple violations of academic integrity will result in further disciplinary measures which could lead to dismissal from the University.
DISABILITY ACCOMODATION STATEMENT
A student with a disability may request appropriate accommodations for this course by contacting the Office of Academic Success, Marshall Hall, Room 301, and providing the required documentation. If accommodations are approved by the Disability Accommodations Committee, the Office of Academic Success will notify the student and the student’s professor of the approved accommodations. The student must then discuss these accommodations with his or her professor.Students may not ask for accommodations the day of an exam or due date. Arrangements must be made prior to these important dates. For additional information, please refer to page 15-16 of the 2016-2017 Undergraduate Catalog.
WEAPONS IN CLASS
The on-campus possession of firearms, explosives, or fireworks is prohibited with the exception of the transportation and storage of firearms and ammunition by concealed handgun license holders in private vehicles (as described in SB1907) Pursuant to Section 30.06, Penal Code (trespass by license holder with a concealed handgun), a person licensed under Subchapter H, Chapter 411, Government Code (handgun licensing law, may not enter this property (ETBU) with a concealed handgun. The ETBU President may grant authorization to a qualified and certified full-time faculty or staff member, who is a license holder with a concealed handgun to conceal carry on the University campus, at a University-sponsored event or within or on a University vehicle.
TENTATIVE COURSE CALENDAR AND READING ASSIGNMENTS
T, Aug. 23 Introduce Course
Th, Aug. 25 The American Way of Dying-Prologue; Ch. 1 and Ch. 4
Characteristics and Causes of Death
T, Aug. 30 The Social Meanings of Death-Ch. 3
Th, Sept. 1 "Good" Death and "Bad" Death-Ch. 2, Ch. 4, and Ch. 17
T, Sept. 6
Th, Sept, 8
T, Sept. 13 Assignment #1 due
Th, Sept. 15 EXAM I
Attitudes Toward Death
T, Sept. 20 Dying Process-Ch. 6
Th, Sept. 22 Children and Death-Ch. 12
T, Sept. 27
Th, Sept. 29 Adolescents, Adults and Death-Ch. 13 and Ch. 15
T, Oct. 4 Treatment of the Dying and the Dead-Ch. 7 and Ch. 8
Th, Oct. 6 No Class-Fall Break
T, Oct. 11 Assignment #2 due
Th, Oct. 13 EXAM II
Cultural Beliefs and Practices
T, Oct. 18 Death in the Arts and Mass Media-Ch. 4
Th, Oct. 20 Religion and Death-Ch. 19
T, Oct. 25 Legal Aspects of Death-Ch. 16 and Ch. 18
Th, Oct. 27 Issues Project due.
T, Nov. 1 Assignment #3 due
Th, Nov. 3 EXAM III
Bereavement
T, Nov. 8 History of Bereavement Practices in the United States
Th, Nov. 10 Funerals-Ch. 11
F, Nov. 11 Last day to drop a course
T, Nov. 15 Bereavement Process-Ch. 9 and Ch.10
Th, Nov. 17
T, Nov. 22 Assignment #4 due
Th, Nov. 24 Thanksgiving Holiday
T, Nov. 29 EXAM IV
Th, Dec. 1 Review for Final Exam
Th, Dec. 8 FINAL EXAM 9:30 –11:20 a.m.
*It is a university policy that the Final Exam must be taken at the date and time it is listed, with three exceptions:
1) personal illness
2) a death in the immediate family
3) 4 finals scheduled on the same day.
No other reason is acceptable for rescheduling a Final Exam.